The phoenix introduced the whole concept of warp drive by making the first faster than light flight in 2063. Just a few years later the Valiant class ships became the first practical warp-drive starships. These two classes still show signs of their rocket origins.

The first class to show the now classic three section design of Primary hull, Engineering hull and Nacelles. Ships of this class where assigned to the newly created Starfleet by the Federation constitution in 2161.

Introduced the circular saucer section for greater warpfield-hull streamlining. Greatly diversified the designs used in the fleet; Miranda introduced the blended saucer and engineering hull, Saladin and Federation classes introduced the single- and triple- nacelle concepts respectively. In c. 2260, the Saladin, Miranda and Constitution classes were refitted with phasers instead of lasers. Ptolemy was the first modularized container hauler.

Refitted models of earlier vessels brought the LN-64 model nacelle into service. Hulls constructed of Duranium rather than Monotanium, and new design philosophy moved torpedoes into hull modules. Phasers channelled through warp engines to increase power. Oberth introduced the unmanned engineering hull, Constellation introduced the four nacelled concept. Soyuz was a reduced capability variant of the Miranda for system defence and border patrol duties. Polaris was a cut-down Constitution for Frigate duties. Challenger merged Constellation nacelles with Constitution hulls.

Reintroduced externally mounted bussard collectors. Nacelles make up much smaller proportion of overall length - shorter nacelles possible due to improvements in field efficiency. Ambassador introduced phaser arrays and burst fire torpedo tubes. Freedom is a descendant of the Saladin / Hermes family with a single nacelle, Niagara is a three-nacelled vessel. These two classes where introduced with Ambassador-era nacelles, but these have since been refitted with Galaxy-era nacelles.